It is the responsibility of higher education institutions to ensure that supports are provided to assist students to develop the skills required to study effectively at higher level. Research shows that the most effective way to enhance study skills is to embed them within the curriculum (Gibbs, 1994; Cottrell, 2001); however, this is not always possible due to the time and resources required.
EFYE2024 – Copenhagen, Parallel session 3Presentation/Paper session | Academic integration/belonging | Social integration/belonging
| In recent years, a growing number of students are entering Higher Education in Ireland through alternative entry pathways (Keane, 2013). Consequently, institutions must now meet the educational and holistic needs of an increasingly diverse student population, rather than rely on an assumed prior knowledge on the part of learners. This may be particularly true of the recently established Technological Universities which, by their very nature, include a more varied student body. It is the responsibility of higher education institutions to ensure that supports are provided to assist students to develop the skills required to study effectively at higher level. Research shows that the most effective way to enhance study skills is to embed them within the curriculum (Gibbs, 1994; Cottrell, 2001); however, this is not always possible due to the time and resources required. As an alternative, study skills resources can be provided but it is important that these would be offered in an equitable way and available to all students. It is also key that, if engagement with these resources is not mandatory, they must be designed in a way that students find engaging and relevant to ensure that they view these as an integral part of their higher education. In response to this need, the Teaching and Learning Centre, in South East Technological University (SETU), Carlow has developed the Higher Education Learner Programme (HELP). The aim of this online programme is to demystify Higher Education and provide essential skills and knowledge. An integral part of the development process was to consider how the student voice would be incorporated into the programme and how content would be disseminated in a way that would reach students. To address this, students were consulted from the outset of the project, informing not only what content would be included but also the formats that would be used to deliver it. Students were involved in the ‘live’ elements of the programme each week and helped to promote the programme onsite, gathering feedback from other students that would inform the content distribution for the following week. They also contributed to each topic through short videos that were distributed on social media and incorporated into the programme. This latter element proved to be particularly engaging for students. In this way, we built a programme that could be adapted based on student feedback and whereby students could see that they were part of a larger community with others who had tread the same path before them.
References: Cottrell, S. (2001). Teaching study skills and supporting learning. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Gibbs, G. (1994). Improving student learning through assessment and evaluation. Oxford: Oxford Centre for Staff Development. Keane, E. (2013). Widening participation in Higher Education in the Republic of Ireland. Report submitted to HEFCE and OFFA. Available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10379/6601 Leese, M., 2010. Bridging the gap: Supporting student transitions into higher education. Journal of further and Higher Education, 34(2), pp.239-251. Tett, L., Cree, V.E. and Christie, H., 2017. From further to higher education: transition as an on-going process. Higher Education, 73, pp.389-406. Risquez, A. and Sanchez-Garcia, M., 2012. The jury is still out: Psychoemotional support in peer e-mentoring for transition to university. The Internet and Higher Education, 15(3), pp.213-221. Postareff, L., Mattsson, M., Lindblom-Ylänne, S. and Hailikari, T., 2017. The complex relationship between emotions, approaches to learning, study success and study progress during the transition to university. Higher education, 73, pp.441-457. |
What do participants experience or learn?
Technical staff, Student, Education leaders, Administrative staff, Academic adviser.
Relevant for all students, but with a specific focus:
Students as volunteers, Students as participants.